NEW YORK, March 2, 2007 (WAFA) - Dr. Riyad Mansour, Permanent Observer of Palestine at the UN since 26 February 2007, the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, continued to suffer the brunt of Israeli military aggression.

In a letter to Mr. Dumisani Shadrack Kumalo, President of the Security Council, Mansour said the Israeli military incursions and extra-judicial executions have continued unabated in occupied West Bank, namely in Nablus and Jenin. Meanwhile the residents of these besieged cities continue to suffer from the destruction and terror that these military attacks cause.

He added that, on 1 March 2007, Israeli occupying forces carried out an incursion into the Al-Fara'a refugee camp, northeast of Nablus city during which they arrested three residents and injured at least four others.

"The incursion included house to house searches and the surrounding of a number other homes and mosques. Nearby in the villages of Tammoun and Al-Yamoun, a tight siege was imposed by Israeli occupying forces. So far, at least two Palestinians have been detained in Al-Yamoun village. The Isreali occupying forces also raided today the city of Qalqilya and the town of Barqeen southwest of Jenin," reads the letter.

These incursions, he said, and detention campaigns follow the extra-judicial execution of three Palestinians in the West Bank city of Jenin on 28 February 2007, at the hands of an Israeli occupying forces undercover unit that infiltrated the city in the early morning hours.

In parallel, there is an ongoing wide scale Israeli incursion into the city of Nablus in which at least 150 military vehicles and bulldozers have been used.

So far, Mansour said, one Palestinian civilian has been killed in Nablus and at least thirty others injured while Israeli occupying forces have detained family members of Palestinians they claim are "wanted". The occupying forces have also imposed siege to the city's three hospitals and converted a number of schools in the city into interrogation centers.

These outright acts of military aggression are going hand in hand with other aggressive Israeli plans and actions that are chipping away at any hope of finding a political horizon and in turn a peaceful settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as they aim to create seemingly irreversible facts on the ground that jeopardize the possibility of a two-State solution.

In East Jerusalem, the letter reads on, Israeli occupying authorities are drawing up plans to build a new illegal settlement, comprising eleven thousand housing units near Qalandia, north of Jerusalem. By far, this is one of the most outrageous attempts of the Israeli occupation to further complicate the situation on the ground in or around occupied East Jerusalem, which continues to be economically chocked by closure and under threat culturally.

Additionally, recent statements by the Israeli Foreign Minister, Ms. Tzipi Livni, cast doubts on the Israeli commitment to a peaceful settlement, a two-State solution, and the Road Map.

"Ms. Livni has declared that Israel cannot accept the Arab Peace Initiative in its current form, adding that the 1967 borders of the future Palestinian State poses a problem for Israel. This statement is indicative of the lack of commitment and good will on the part of the current Israeli Government towards the peace process. At the same time, it reflects the degree of impunity which Israel, the occupying Power, exercises towards its international commitments given the lack of accountability it has enjoyed in the international arena," according to the letter.

"We are gravely alarmed by the overall situation on the ground, which taking into consideration the plans and statements made by senior Israeli officials, project a reality where chances for peace and reaching an end to the conflict are seriously diminished rather than encouraged," it added.

Furthermore, given the unwarranted and barbaric aggression by the Israeli occupying forces against Palestinian cities in the West Bank and the continued siege imposed on the Gaza Strip, which has driven the majority of its 1.4 million residents to the brink of starvation, it is incumbent upon the international community to assume its responsibilities towards the Palestinian people and to uphold international law.

Mansour said the international community, particularly the Security Council, must intervene to put an end to the Israeli aggression on the ground immediately and to ensure Israeli compliance with its commitments and obligations vis-à-vis relevant international resolutions and initiatives because continued inaction on the part of the international community will only encourage more impunity and increased tension in the region.

A.D (22:25P) (20:25GMT)